Unfortunately last night, I ran out of pages to read of Tad Williams’ Shadowmarch and I, and most of Tad’s fans, will have to wait until at least 2006 to read the next volume in the saga, tentatively titled Shadowplay. Aside from those two negative points, and they really aren’t negative marks against the quality of the book itself, the book was great. This Epic novel had everything – encroaching non-human enemies, a multitude of characters, royal intrigue, myth & magic, and most importantly, plausible characters and great storytelling. I look forward to re-reading it when the second volume does arrive
SCIFI.com’s Science Fiction Weekly is live with a great review by Claude Lalumière of Superman: Secret Identity, the superb Superman mini-series by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen from earlier this year. The duo introduce us to a world with no superheroes, a world much like our own. They introduce us to Clark Kent, a young man who constantly gets the requisite Superman-themed gifts for birthdays and holidays. Then on his birthday, he realizes he has superpowers similar to Kal-El’s. That’s the starting point and from there Busiek takes the reader on a very human, very heartfelt story. I won’t say more since Lalumière does a great job of covering what made this mini-series so wonderful earlier this year and a must have trade-paperback/graphic novel. For me, it again reinstates Busiek’s gift for storytelling in the comics medium, his wonderful ability at mixing the everyday with a sense of wonder.
Author of the week:
This week’s author of the week is Robin Hobb, since the concluding volume of her Tawny Man Trilogy, Fool’s Fate, is released in paperback this week in the US. This book is also the concluding volume in a trilogy of linked trilogies. You see, in Fool’s Fate, Ms. Hobb brings the story of FitzChivalry Farseer to its end. Fitz’s story started in Assassin’s Apprentice, continued in Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest. Ms. Hobb then told, in the Liveship Traders trilogy, the story of a family of sea faring traders, who sail on living ships. This saga took place in the same world as Fitz’s story, but in a different locale. After the Liveship saga drew to a close, Ms. Hobb picked up Fitz’s tale 15 years after the conclusion of Assassin’s Quest with Fool’s Errand, and linked the two earlier series more closely. So 9 books in roughly 9 years, a pretty impressive thing in itself, add to that the good reception from both critics and fans of fantasy, and you’ve got one of the modern masters of Fantasy. For me, these nine books stand pretty high on my personal canon of Fantasy Literature, and I can’t recommend them enough to any reader who enjoys Epic/High Fantasy.
I’ll be picking up the following comics from this weeks release list:
Adam Strange #3
Flash #216
Batman #634
Amazing Spider-Man #514
Supreme Power #13
Green Lantern: Rebirth #2
Superman #211
Beer of the week: Guinness. The smooth creamy stout loved the world over. Few beers improve upon taste from bottle/can to draught, and this is one of them. A beer that goes great with a juicy 16oz steak, for me that is one of the true measuring sticks of a good beer.
The Yankees have made little movement thus far in the off-season, as the never-ending quest to acquire Randy Johnson continues.
Tomorrow’s turkey day, a day filled with food and drink to celebrate family, or as some cynics have said, to celebrate our colonists one act of kindness in our otherwise genocide-like attitude towards Native Americans.
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